Min

Chief of Heaven.

  • Cult Center: Panopolis and Koptos 
  • Attributes: In early times Min was a sky-god whose symbol was a thunderbolt. His title was Chief of Heaven. Well into the Middle Kingdom he was identified with the falcon-god Haroeris (Horus the Elder). Above all, Min was worshipped by men as a fertility god, a bestower of sexual powers. He was also seen as a rain god that promoted the fertility of nature, especially in the growing of grain.During the Min festivals that celebrated the beginning of the planting season, we find renderings of pharaohs ceremonially hoeing the ground and watering the fields under the supervision of Min. Likewise at the Min festival that marked the beginning of the harvest season, the pharaoh was seen reaping the grain.Despite his fertility associations, Min was also known as Lord of the Eastern Desert. In this role he was the protector of the caravan routes from his cult center at Koptos to the Red Sea. As the Lord of Foreign Lands he was the protector of nomads and hunters.
  • Representation: Min was pictured as an bearded, ithyphallic man, with his legs close together. He wore two tall feathers, the same headdress that we find Amun wearing. His arm is raised, holding a whip, or a thunderbolt. In the New Kingdom he was represented as a white bull. 
  • Relations: Son of Ra or of Shu. 
  • Other Names:

 
The next goddess is Mut.
List of Mythological Deities